Inspiration

Four Spooky Trips You’ve Never Thought Of

Our list of spooky trips will give you the heeby-jeebies.

We’ve scoured the internet to bring you a handful of spooky trips you can take this October. From modern haunted houses to ancient cemeteries, we think these destinations are worth a book. Best of all, most of them are fine for a last-minute visit too – with good airport connections even if you’re further afield.

Runs from: 22nd September – 4th November

We start off with a heavy hitter. The 13th gate ranks as a top-shelf US haunted house. Here’s what they say for themselves:

‘The 13th Gate is a haunted attraction that is known for its extreme ultra-realism and is one of the most detailed haunted houses in existence. The artists behind the massive dark attraction are experts at blurring the lines between horror and reality, and guests frequently wonder between screams whether what they are experiencing is real or not. The attraction’s level of detail, set design, and effects combined with their impressive actors and incredible makeup effects can only be compared to a Hollywood movie. The attraction features a real snake-infested Louisiana Swamp, nightly voodoo shows, claustrophobic cellars, hidden subterranean passages and even a prehistoric ice cave all seamlessly woven together and nothing short of masterful. ‘

Runs from: 15th September – 4th November

One more haunted house and we swear we’ll move on. Cutting Edge gets its name from its location. Stumble into a 100-year-old, abandoned meat packing plant situated in”Hell’s Half Acre.” Here’s what the Cutting Edge Haunted House has to offer:

‘The meat packing equipment from the Old West is still in use, but now it is a two-story human processing area. Realistic looking human mannequins are hoisted up to the second level and brought through the entire meat packing process until the conveyor system brings the butchered corpses back to the first level. The old meat-packing plant in downtown Fort Worth is a great home for the fantastic special effects that our loyal customers have come to expect.” It takes visitors an average 55 minutes to explore Cutting Edge Haunted House.’

Runs from: 1st October- 31st October

While this location used to house a charity event for decades, we think the location itself is eerier. It adds to the ambience that the production moved on. If you make the trek, do it for the historic cemetery itself. Here’s why it’s worth a look:

‘No one knows how old Hellview Cemetery really is. Some say it existed even before the Seminole Indians were ever to set foot on the peninsula of what is now Saint Petersburg, Florida. The mound builders of the area gave it a wide berth as they said, “The dead are not quiet there. The graves inside the cemetery date from centuries-old to recent deaths of only a few years. This is odd as no records exist of anyone being buried there. Even stranger still is the fact the some of the graves date to before the European colonization of America. ‘

Runs from: 1st May- 15th October

Our last entry should tempt the ghost-hunter in you. In addition to picturesque views of the great lakes, this is the loneliest haunting we’ve heard of. Taylor Adams, an employee of the lighthouse and daughter of the former Coast Guard station chief, tells the tale:

‘Most look at the Marquette Harbor and its lighthouse and see the beauty of the lake, but on several occasions, [I] witnessed a small ghost of a girl on the upper floor of the lighthouse. Standing in broad daylight, this ghostly figure of a girl is seen staring out the upper floor window, peering out at the horizon of Lake Superior. It has been reported that the girl prefers catching a glimpse of the horizon when Lake Superior is in a calm state; as the winds of the lake stir up the sounds of the souls of her long-lost mother and father, proving too much for her to bear.’